A new life and second chances
by 42bookworm
Summary: OC in Steph's body.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Miranda's POV**

Do you know this feeling? You worked your ass off to make something happen, to pass your final exam with decent grades or you finished your project in a minimum of time and you are flying on a success high and then suddenly something happens that throws a wrench into your plans and you crash land hard on the ground of reality? Yes well welcome to my life, or well to my second life, because the first? Well let's just say it didn't end quite as I had planned.

The name that I had listened to in my first 36 years of life had been Miranda, Miranda Herington to be exact. When I died I was a white, single, fashion designer in New York and believe it or not I had just finished with the successful launch of my first fashion line as a somebody in the big apple.

Surprised? Yeah so was I when I realized that all my hard work and tears that I had put into my designs and the promotion of them were for nothing. You know if somebody had told me that I would die on the day the Maya calendar ended I probably would have laughed the person in the face, before turning around and leaving.

Oh well back to my death, it was nothing spectacular to be honest. I didn't die tragically in a terrorist attack or was taken hostage; I wasn't torn apart by zombies, hell I wasn't even mugged by somebody desperate for cash. No, the taxi I had sat in with my best friend had been hit by another driver, end of story.

Or well it should have been for me, because the last thing I saw before everything went black was a car coming too fast at me.

**General POV**

Well and in the next moment she breathed in once again and felt completely disoriented, because Miranda suddenly wasn't alone in her body.

A screeching voice awoke a still sleepy Miranda, confused the blonde fashion designer turned around in her bed and away from the noise, whoever that was Miranda didn't want to deal with them, the voice screeched again and she was not proud of this but the first thing that went through her head was that Debbie's newest neighbor must have found a way into her flat once again.

Ah, she would have to explain that wouldn't she?  
Well let's just say that her best friend and personal assistant Deborah Milano had bad luck with neighbors. No matter how nice or expensive a flat was, it was guaranteed that she would have at least one crazy somewhere on the floor that would make nuisance of themselves in the most inconvenient moment.  
The latest case was a 40 year old recent divorcée that somehow had gotten into her head that Debbie was to blame for her divorce, no matter that Debbie had never even met the former Mrs. Stoneheim's better half.

But back to the screeching voice, after it didn't just go away she opened her eyes and had a strange feeling of vertigo, Miranda was laying in a unknown bed and around her everything seemed to be turned inside out, the black's were white and the white's were black and beside her stood a babbling woman that was certainly not Mrs. Stoneheim, for that she lacked another 100 pounds.

The woman in front of her stopped speaking and smiled at Miranda's assessment, before she continued in a calmer voice.

"You should be dead! I dreamed of you dying, holy shit my dream is possessed by a ghost!"

"What are you talking about?" Miranda couldn't help but ask confused before the happenings of the day rushed back at her and she turned white as a sheet.

"Oh my good you are right, I should be dead! Why am I here? … is this the afterlife?"

"No, this is my dream!" the woman in front of her said now a bit more empathic.

"How the hell did I end up in your dream if I should be dead?"

"I don't know, I have had this strange dreams about you and your friend for nearly a week now. You know when you were at this fashion show and the benefit for children and all that stuff to promote your collection."

"You saw all of that? What the hell?"

"Don't look at me like that I didn't chose watching you in my dreams."

"…, sorry I… it's just this is surreal!"

"Don't I know it?"

"Miranda Herington."

"Stephanie Orr."

Miranda laughed, "Oh my god, like in the Janet Evanovich series? Stephanie Plum, the bounty hunter with Carlos Manoso and Josef Morelli?"

"What books, and Morelli? You know Joe?"

"Eh I mean the series of books that Janet Evanovich has been writing for ten years or so, you know Stephanie Plum, who was married to Dickie Orr before divorcing him, then she was let go from E.E. Martin and after that she started bounty hunting for her cousin Vinnie."

"Is this a joke?"

"What? No, the books are pretty popular and have been translated in a lot of other languages."

"I… I'm divorcing Dickie? I have just married him."

"Wait, are you telling me that you are Stephanie Plum, live in Trenton, have an older sister named Valerie, a pervert of a cousin and married the lawyer Richard Orr?"

"Yes, yes I am, how the hell do you know about me, what the hell is going on? And bounty hunting?"

"Oh shit, say what's the date?"

"13th of June."

"I died on the 21st of December."

"Okay that's strange. Who is the president?"

"Obama?"

"Who?"

"Obama, he was elected 2008."

"Wait what? It's 1998."

"WHAT? I died on the 21st of December 2012, as on the day the Maya calendar ended."

Stephanie's eyes went big, "Okay that's just freaky."

"Tell me about it. … and I had just started with making a name in the fashion scene in New York."

"So… back to my divorce…"

"Uh oh, you won't like that."

"TELL ME!"

"You caught or well… will catch Dickie fucking Barnhardt on your new dining room table."

"…"

"Sorry."

The woman across Miranda, Stephanie was still gaping at her. Before she abruptly closed her mouth before she hissed.

"I'm going to kill him. Joyce Barnhardt, JOYCE BARNHARDT, that skank? He is fucking my arch nemesis on MY dining room table?"

Uh oh, seemed as if somebody was in for a rude awakening.

"Hey, hey calm down. If this is really real and not just some odd dream it hasn't happened yet and I think you want a legitimate reason for divorcing him so don't do anything that you will regret."

"Regret? Oh believe me I regret something alright and that is marrying this cheating, lying son of a bitch. Damn it why have I let myself being talked into this marriage?"

"Hey don't worry, it will get better, but just a piece of advice. Sue the bastard to his last penny. He is going to make problems for you about 5 years after your divorce and will accidently set a psychopath on your trail, so take all the money you can get. See it as interim payment for what you will have to go through."

"Ugh. You said something about being let go and bounty hunting? Tell me everything!"

"Oh well, the books began with…"

**Miranda's POV**

And the following hours I proceeded to tell the infamous Stephanie Plum what would wait for her in the coming years.

"I need a drink. No, I need a bottle." Stephanie sighed.

"Calm down, everything is going to be alright, you are warned now. Oh and one thing… don't let Morelli in your bed, he is toxic for you. Ranger will let you do what you want, how you want and will probably be a lot more satisfying between the sheets than Morelli. The sentence, 'The boys miss you.' has come up often enough in the books to make me hurl. Please, oh please don't do this to yourself."

"You think so?" Stephanie asked unsure.

"I know so, from what I have gathered from the books you are more than unhappy with Morelli trying to convert you to Burg housewife material and trap you in a marriage, but you never say anything because it is what your mom always tries to push on you."

Stephanie sighed miserable once more, before she nodded, "You are probably right. So even if Joe Morelli is a sexy son of a bitch I will not let him in my bed." The last part sounded like a mantra.

"Good girl." I said satisfied, that was when an annoying tone started to beep from somewhere. "What the hell is this?" I asked confused.

"My alarm." Stephanie sighed, "Well I think that's it, I hope you can move on."

"Yeah me too, good luck Steph."

"Thanks, I will probably need it."

"And remember wait until you catch Dickie red handed..."

But before I could finish my sentence everything began to swirl around me. The next thing I was aware of that my arm moved and stopped an annoying noise right beside my face, my hand then went to my head and combed through my wild curls… wait wild curls? I had straight blonde hair not brunet curls! Oh shit.

"Steph?"

"Miranda? What the hell, this wasn't a dream?"

"No… shit I'm stuck in this body!"

"Oh crap, okay give me a sec this is going to be awkward but I need to pee."

"You don't have to tell me, I need to pee too! I feel everything you feel."

"Okay, okay…. we have to calm down, there has to be a logical explanation why you are stuck in my body."

That was the last thing Steph said before she relieved us of the horrible feeling of a full bladder. Calmer than before we went down into the kitchen to made ourselves a pop tart while we discussed in Steph's head how to solve this problem.

"We can't go to anybody for help; they would just think we are crazy." Steph reasoned.

"Yeah, bad idea, I'm not sure how much was exaggerated but I don't think your mom would be happy."

As an answer I could feel Steph grimace and shudder, nah that was probably a very bad idea.

"Okay, let's assume this is a temporary situation. That would mean you would probably have me in the back of your head for some time before getting rid of me?"

"And what if it isn't? I mean I'm sorry if this sounds insensitive but you are dead and it seems as if your soul in anchored to my body, for whatever reason, wouldn't it be more reasonable that you will leave it the moment I leave it?", Steph asked.

Miranda wasn't too sure what to say about this before answering, "It does sound logical but what is more important now is do we try to do something about this situation?"

"Do you want to?"

Miranda snorted, "As you said, I'm dead; you are the one living this life."

For some time Stephanie was silent before saying, "Funnily enough I don't mind that much. I like you, I mean I have watched a part of your life and you seem okay to me. I also could probably use the help if it is true what is going to happen to me in the next few years." At the last sentence Steph sighed once more, she clearly wasn't happy with what I have told her, who would?

"Hhm, if you are okay with it, why not? I mean I'm dead, I don't think I will go anywhere in the near future. Let's make your life as awesome as possible."

Stephanie laughed and smiled at this.

"Looks like I now have my own inner voice. Hopefully nobody will see me talking to myself in public… that would be kind of bad."

"Steph I don't know if you have noticed but take a look in the mirror across from us, we have been talking the whole time and not once have your lips moved. I think there won't be problems with talking to yourself in public."

"Huh, you are right, man that's kind of freaky. But wait… you have the same field of vision I do, though you seem to be able to concentrate on different things than I… that's interesting and will probably be very useful!"

"True."

"You think you could control my body?"

"You mean make it walk or something? Well let's try."

And with that Miranda tried to move Steph's head from one side to the other. It didn't work.

"Damn." Miranda pouted.

"Sorry." Steph answered out of reflex.

"Don't say that. It's your body, you should probably be glad that I can't move it."

"Still this would have been pretty cool, if not a bit freaky."

"Seriously? You would have allowed me to walk around in your body?"

"Not all the time of course, but you are stuck here with me. The last thing I could do is letting you use my body from time to time."

Miranda snorted, "You know, be glad that nobody can hear us talk, this just sounded all kinds of wrong. But thanks for the offer anyway."

"You are pretty calm for somebody who just died and lost everything."

"Yeah… to be honest I have no idea why I am so calm. Maybe I'm still in shock, or maybe it's the fact that my soul, essence, whatever knows that I'm dead and accepts this as fact and that's why I don't flip out."

"Hhm, you know what? Our experience has just proven that we all have a soul and that there is something after death. We have still no idea what it is but if the soul exists without a body I don't think it will stop to exist when it goes where it should go." Steph stated.

"Yeah… you know this makes reincarnation a lot more plausible than any other believes about the afterlife." Miranda mused before she changed topic, "So, I couldn't help but notice, Dickie isn't here. Were the hell is he?"

"Business trip."

"You sure about this?"

"To be honest I don't want to know."

"Yeah, me too."

"So what are you going to do today."

"I would say we write down everything you know about the books before you forget it. It could be vital for us."

"Hhm, sounds good, but don't you have to go to work?"

"Nah, it's Saturday."

"Oh... oh well, then let's do this."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**General POV**

The rest of the Saturday the two women in a body spent on Stephanie's laptop to create a time line, when what would happen as well as possible scenarios to escape not only the psychopath's but also the embarrassing situations. Because it's one thing to read it in a book, but it was a completely different can of worms if you would be able to feel everything of this happening to you.

During lunch break, in which Stephanie ordered Chinese takeout she filled in Miranda on her life up to now.  
Stephanie was 26 at the moment and had been married to Orr for nearly 3 months; she had graduated three years ago from college with a Masters degree in business and had started to work for E.E. Martin as a lingerie buyer right out of college. The wedding had been planned by her mother and she had worn the monstrosity of white cloth and had gone along with everything her mother had wanted just to shut her up.

In the evening when they were watching television they both felt a strange prickling all over themselves and when they went to bed it only increased. Both were worried and nervous about what that could mean but fell asleep relatively quickly, both were mentally exhausted from the day and the night before.

It was the last time they would ever talk to each other as separate entities.

Because on the next day the person that woke up was neither Stephanie nor Miranda, but a perfectly intermingled being that had the memories and experiences of both.  
Stephranda or Mirandanie or whatever you wanted to call her, sat hyperventilating in her bed and tried to work through the memories and thought processes that flew through her head. Okay, it seemed as if two souls couldn't live in one body, so instead Stephanie seemed to have integrated the additional soul and a new person had been created.

After calming down somewhat, the woman fell back into the sheets and tried to sort out what to do now. She wasn't only Stephanie anymore and she also wasn't Miranda, but in some way she still was both of them, and this, this was her life now and she would live it as best as she could, and curse on anyone who interfered.

So she got out of bed went down into the kitchen and made herself coffee and breakfast before she went over the notes on the laptop they… she… had made yesterday.

She was still married to Richard Orr and she would have to rectify this as fast as possible, but until then she would take advantage of the credit card he had given her as a wedding present.

Dickie would be away for another week that meant that Steph would have time to get comfortable in her new routine, before he returned. So Steph became to familiarize herself with the house and her job and when Dickie returned it didn't seem as if she was a complete new person.

Richard Orr was relatively good looking at that time, he was no athlete but he didn't have a beer belly and still enough hair on his head. What he didn't have was any kind of passion. His kisses were wet and impersonal and the sex… let's just say it was less then mediocre and Steph couldn't wait to catch him with the Barnhardt bitch to get this farce over with. Yes, she did have sex with him, it would have been strange if she had refused to have sex with her husband and furthermore she was curious if he really was so lacking as Janet had described in the books.

The new Stephanie was aware that she would have to find a new job in a few years and to be honest she wasn't exactly jumping with joy about the job as Bond Enforcement Agent that awaited her in her not so distant future. She had liked the books; after all she had read most of them and had found them hilarious for the most part but experiencing this herself? Nah, the dumpsters and stalkers should stay the hell away from her!

To pass some time and to legitimize the skills she now possessed thanks to Miranda, she enrolled in some College classes where people learned how to sew their own clothes as well as some concerning photography, because she always wanted to take them but never had the money or time. Steph also bought a big number of books about these topics so that if anybody asked about her sudden talent in sewing and designing clothes she had a good excuse. She told Dickie about the photography classes as well as mentioned the sewing classes in passing, he was uninterested in them but as the macho asshole he was he paid for the classes in advance. It amused Steph that he was paying for her classes while she knew that soon they would fight against each other in the court.  
She also started to accept him buying her jewelry, the original had always refused expensive jewelry, but Miranda had no such qualms, especially as she knew that he was cheating on her.

**Steph POV**

A month after my merging I came home early from a college class, the teacher had given us the assignment of filming our home and work on our awareness of the surroundings. That was the reason why I had my camera out when I entered the front yard. There I also started with a short introduction about myself before I made my way into the house. When I heard some strange knocking noises coming from the dining room I knew instantly that I finally had caught Dickie cheating on me. I really couldn't believe my luck; this video would be the perfect material for my divorce. So I still had my camera in hand and acted as if I hadn't heard the noises and continued my documentary about the house. When I rounded the corner and entered the dining room I thought I was going to throw up. On the table Dickie and Joyce were fucking and it was the most disgusting view I had ever seen. During the last few weeks while I had been waiting to catch Dickie I had thought that this wouldn't affect me too much… I was wrong. Even though half of me didn't make the vow of being faithful to this man, the fact that he was so blatantly cheating on me, his wife of only half a year made my blood boil. The anger helped remember my plan. To make the whole thing more believable for the court I let the camera point to the floor before I started to scream and curse the two on the dining table.

"What the… Dickie Orr, you cheating, lying son of a bitch! I can't believe you! Joyce Barnhardt? You are cheating on me with the town slut?"

"Ho-Honey, I… what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? I LIVE HERE YOU BASTARD!"

The last part was sobbed out for the sake of the court and with this sentence I turned around and rushed out of the house. On my way out of the house I had to congratulate myself, this would have been an award winning performance had it played out in the cinema and not real life. Two steps away from the car I stopped the filming process and climbed into the vehicle. Dickie was right behind me while he desperately tried to pull up his trousers and reach for me, but before he could touch the car I had already started the engine and then drove out of the drive way. A quick check in the mirror showed my face bright red and puffy with tear stained eyes.

Two blocks down I couldn't control myself anymore and had to laugh, in my life as Miranda I could do the waterworks on commando. My drama classes which my best friend had forced me to take in college were now paying off beautifully. I made my way straight to a female divorce lawyer that I had heard of in the gossip mill of the Burg. A quick check of my face showed my still tearstained face, pressed together lips and a furious look. I stormed into the foyer and the people who saw me moved out of my way quickly. I had to bite my lip to keep from bursting into laughter while I made my way to the reception desk. There I asked the woman politely when the next free appointment with Lawyer Hudgson was. The forty something blonde woman at the desk took one look at my face and grabbed the phone. After a quick talk she said to me that they could squeeze me in right now.  
Thanking the older woman I made my way to the office of Lawyer Hudgson. In the office I met a 50 year old woman with silver hair that was bound into a pony tail and a no nonsense attitude. I told her about my day, and about the assignment and how I had caught my husband with the town slut on my dining room table.

Samantha, as she told me to call her, took the video tape and promised me that we would sue that cheating bastard out of every dollar he had. She seemed even more gleeful when she realized that she was suing Dickie Orr, it seemed as if his reputation was less than perfect. After concluding my business, the next step in my plan to get revenge was making a call to both Mary Lou Stankovic and Shirley Gazarra and tell them about what had happened. This would ensure that the news about Dickie cheating on me with Joyce Barnhardt in my own home would spread faster than Dickie could do damage control. While I had the phone still in my hand I also made a call to my parents' house and informed Grandma Mazur as well as my father about my plans to divorce Dickie, my mother was thankfully not there and so I didn't have to talk to her.

Because it was starting to get late I rented a room at a B&amp;B 20 minutes from the Burg, I didn't want to see Dickie more than I had to, he really was a little rat. Thankfully tomorrow was a work free day as compensation for all the overtime I had to do last week.

The next day I made my way to the house to get a few things when I knew that he was in his office. As precaution I drove by his work place and saw his car in the parking lot. After that I bought a newspaper and started looking through the real estate part while I had breakfast back at the B&amp;B. I needed to get a flat asap, even if it was a dump. Finishing my delicious chocolate muffin I started to call the numbers to view the flats which were up to rent.

Funnily enough I landed at Steph's original flat in the books. Dillon Ruddick the building supervisor was an old schoolmate of mine and after I told him about catching Dickie Orr cheating he was more than willing to let me move in right now, if I paid 3 months in advance. Having cleared the living situation up, I made my way back to the house. There I went straight to the master bedroom to pack my clothes from the wardrobe as well as my bath supplies and jewelry. I wanted to get out of here as fast as possible and so I started to throw everything into giant garbage sacks and carried them into my car. My photographic equipment and mannequin followed, as did all the wedding presents Stephanie's part of the family had given to them. After that Stephanie's impressive shoe and handbag collection plus the expensive tea service she had inherited from her great aunt were all bundled up and put into the car. After a final walk through the house I also snatched the stamp and coin collections that Dickie had inherited but never took interest in. He had handed them over to Steph and told her to box them and put them on the attic. I kind of doubted that he even remembered them. In a few years those would be worth a lot of money, it was his own fault for not taking better care of his things.

Feeling accomplished I made my way back to my new flat. There I lugged everything upstairs and then started to make a list of what I would have to get done before the day was over. Groceries, a bed as well as sheets were on the top of my list. After that I decided that I had hidden long enough from Helen Plum and that I would have to face her sooner or later. My poor cell phone wouldn't survive another day with me being incommunicado for my mother. I had received 78 messages from her in the last 48 hours, talk about over kill. And so after taking care of all the other things I finally called my parents home.  
Thankfully Grandma Mazur was the one answering; she informed me that the phone had been ringing off the hook for the last day and that my mother had taken to ironing everything they had in the house for the second time already, as always accompanied by a big bottle of wine. I promised Grandma Mazur to explain everything this evening while having dinner with the family before I hung up and busied myself with arranging my stuff in the apartment.

Dillon had been kind enough to help me move the queen sized bed from IKEA into my flat and also helped me with putting it together. I would have to get him something nice for all the trouble he went through. Thankfully I wouldn't need to get a wardrobe because of the built in closets. But I would have to paint the walls in the flat, the blue and greenish grey were so not my style. Oh and Janet had been right, the bathroom was tiny and butt ugly but functional, I would really need to find a way to pep it up somehow, the brown tiles with the flower pattern and blue painted wall where a no go!

At 20 minutes to 6 I made my way to my parents' house. To be honest I was a little bit nervous. Not because I regretted the decision of filing for divorce, no I had planned that since the moment I landed in Steph's body and merged with her, but the idea of a disappointed Helen Plum and the inevitable nagging were giving me the shivers. Because you could look at it in whatever way you wanted but Helen Plum was my mother in this world now. So I arrived at my parents' house at 7 before 6 pm and was greeted by Grandma Mazur who patted me on my arm while she babbled about the newest resident in the funeral home. Of all the family members, Grandma Mazur had been the one I felt instantly connected to.

"Helen, Stephanie is here." Grandma Mazur cried through the house.

I could hear something falling to the ground and then hasty steps in our direction. Helen Plum looked harried and had a kind of crazy look in her eyes and while she drew nearer she started to talk.

"Do you really have to divorce the lawyer? I mean it could have been a misunderstanding. I mean you can still fix this. I'm sure he will take you back."

Oh no she DIDN'T! I could feel my blood pumping through my veins.

"Misunderstanding? I caught that cheating bastard with Joyce Barnhardt on MY dining room table, I have them on CAMERA!" I pressed in a barely controlled voice out.

Helen, I couldn't call her mother at the moment, slapped her hand over her mouth before she looked up to the ceiling and whined.

"Why me? Grace McDarren's daughter doesn't file for divorce…"

I couldn't believe what I heard, Helen Plum had just hit rock bottom with me. I balled my hands and I swear I tried to hold back but it just burst out of me.

"Why you? Why ME? What did I do to deserve a mother that is more interested in fitting in and going so far that she would rather sacrifice her daughter's happiness and self esteem than this family's so called perfect reputation? I have had it with you, all my life I tried to please you but I was never good enough. God damn it I even MARRIED that Orr bastard because you had been nagging me and it was what everyone expected. ENOUGH! I'm done; don't expect me to show up to any other family dinner until you had some serious attitude adjustment." With that I turned on my heels and wanted to storm out but was blocked by two warm arms.

During my triad, my father had walked up behind us.

He held me in his arms while he said calmly "Helen, Stephanie is right, this has been going on long enough. Did you really just accuse our daughter of being responsible for her husband's cheating? I expect an apology from you Helen. Now let's eat and later you can join me in the garage Pumpkin."

To be honest I was shocked because the Stephanie Plum of the novels was right, this family didn't do hugs or kisses. They expressed their feelings through food, be it home cooked or bought. The deep and soothing voice of Frank Plum calmed me down and so I nodded into his neck while I breathed in his aftershave and something that this body associated with comfort and safety. It was interesting; in my life as Miranda I hadn't known my father and had been raised by my flighty mother and strict Grandma. I always thought that had been enough but now in this new life I realized what I had missed the first time around. I turned my head and looked at the dyed blonde across from us, she had her lips firmly pressed together but didn't say anything and so I just ignored her while I followed my father and Grandma Mazur into the dining room. Dinner was kind of awkward with only Grandma and me talking. Dad was back to his stoic and silent self and Helen; well she was still sulking at being told off by dad. I told Grandma that I already had a new apartment and that I had hired the divorce lawyer Hudgson furthermore I talked about how I had started to take some photography lessons at the community college. In return Grandma filled me in on all the rumors around me catching Dickie in the act and how she was the centre of attention at the beauty parlor because she was an inside source. Grandma Mazur was an absolute riot and so I told her every single detail about how I caught Dickie and Joyce and even about the fact that I had caught them on camera, which made Grandma crow out in delight.

She patted me on the arm and said to me, "You did the right thing honey! If you had forgiven him he would have just continued with that and you deserve better!"

Dad grunted at that approving, this choked my up a bit, I knew it was the right decision, but to have it confirmed like this by family members was very encouraging. After dinner dad took me into the garage as promised. There he sat me down on one of the old beaten wood chairs while he started to work on his cab. Steph and he had done this quite often during her teenage years, Val had been Helen's favorite and so Steph had been a daddy's girl right from the beginning.

We kept a comfortable silence for quite a while before dad asked, "Do you need help with moving or the divorce?"

"No, but thanks. I have already moved everything of value to me into the new apartment and Samantha, that is Lawyer Hudgson, has given me the run down on the divorce process yesterday. She already filed Complaint for Divorce and hopefully this will be over as soon as possible, the less I see him the better."

At that dad grunted and took one of the rags to cleanse his hands, after that he opened a hidden compartment at his work table and took out two cigars. I had to snort at that, of course he had his cigars stashed here; he always took them out if he wanted to celebrate something and Helen hated them.

"One is enough dad, I will just mooch off of you."

Both Steph and me had never liked the taste of cigars and now that we were one person the distaste had become even stronger.

Dad sat down beside me in the other seat, "I'm glad you sent Orr packing, I never really liked him."

At that I had to snort and leaned my head against his shoulder, I felt his arm coming around me and pressing me to him. This surprised me once again because as I said before, this family didn't do hugs.

"You know that I love you…" Dad said.

Now I was completely shocked, because as little as we hugged, we spoke even less open about our feelings for each other, it wasn't done. It just made everybody uncomfortable, even the now improved me, so I just nodded my head, not sure what to say.

"Your mother loves you too."

"She has a funny way of showing it." I replied before I sighed and acquiesced, "But I do know." I would try to keep the peace, for my fathers and Grandma's sake.

With a last squeeze dad stood up, burned out the cigar and went back to work on the car. We kept sitting like this for another hour before I made my way back to my flat and fell asleep in my new home.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

I spent my weekend with renovating my apartment.

The painted brick stone wall was a bitch to get clean, but with a lot of paint remover and even more patience I did it and the final result was pretty awesome, it gave the room a rustic feeling, the fireplace was painted black to contrast against the wall.

The rest of the flat got a light beige color and I put in dark grey stone patterned linoleum everywhere with the exception of the parts that had parquet. Okay let's be honest the linoleum had been more work than I had anticipated but I finished it and in combination with the parquet and newly painted walls it looked great! The doors and shutters got either a black coat or a white one and it made them really stand out in contrast of the rest of the flat. The kitchen furniture got pepped up with white and wood patterned adhesive foil and one plum colored wall. The fact that I didn't have any furniture other than my bed was a god send while I overhauled the apartment, with it would have taken at least twice as long. Still I would have to get some furniture sometime this week because it would be pretty awkward if somebody came to visit and they couldn't sit down anywhere.

And so the new week began and I was back at E.E. Martins to buy cheap lingerie. My coworkers were dying from curiosity and were more or less subtle about it. To escape all the gazes I met up with Mare at lunch time and we made plans for furniture shopping for the next day. Because I had finished my work already in the morning I used the time in the afternoon to research ways of doing something about my ugly brown bathroom. In my new chick bachelorette flat it stand out even more. From what I had read on the net it seemed as if I would have to sand down the tiles, bathtub and sink a bit before I could put on a new color. Damn it, my arms were already killing me, but oh well it would have to be done sometime and better now than never.

I ended up painting the sink and bath tub light grey, while the wall tiles got a color that was a few shades darker than the sink and had a metallic shine to it. The white floor tiles were left alone with the exception of a bit touched up grout and the rest of the horrible blue color that had covered nearly every part of the flat was painted over with plain white. The little details like a new and bigger mirror cupboard combo, some red candles were still missing. I also reminded myself to get some grey towels to set against the white ones, a rug and a new toilet seat, the old one was slightly cracked. A new shower curtain was also on my list, the yellow flowers weren't doing it for me. After washing my face in the kitchen I fell into bed dead tired but satisfied; the paint in the bathroom would have to dry over night.

The next morning held an unpleasant surprise for me. Dickie was standing with red roses in front of E.E. Martin and was waiting for me. Oh I was so not in the mood to see him today, or any other day until the divorce was final. Thankfully he didn't see me until I vanished into the employees' only part of the building. I would have to plan my escape so that I could go shopping with Mare. My supervisor Mr. Elgan had thankfully a soft spot for me, or more for my ass. Anyway he allowed me to work through my lunch break and let me leave an hour earlier. I informed Mare about the time changes and picked her up from her home before we went back to my flat. Mare was really enthusiastic about my new apartment, especially after she saw the pictures I had taken before my little renovation. We took the measurements we needed and then made our way to the furniture stores around Trenton. We bought a wooden kitchen table with 4 matching chairs as well as a cheap black sofa bed and glass coffee table for the living room. Furthermore we found a large, relatively cheap mirror cupboard combo and a black bathroom rug and grey toilet seat. After the numbers that I would have to pay showed up at the cash register, I knew that I was as good as broke. Anything else would have to wait until my next pay check came in. At least I didn't have to pay rent for the next three months.

Because it was cheaper, we rented a transporter from the furniture store and moved my things up to the second floor ourselves. After bringing up the table and chairs Dillon came to help us with the sofa, he was an absolute godsend, Mare and me would have never been able to maneuver the sofa out of the elevator. In the apartment Dillon exclaimed surprised about the changes and improvements and jokingly asked me if I wanted to help him redecorate the other empty flats so that he could raise the rent. I answered him that it wouldn't be a problem for me and he then started to seriously consider this. After returning the transporter and giving Mare a lift back home, I got a call from Samantha about the divorce process. She told me that she had received a proposal for Mediation and that it would be a lot less expensive for both of us if we could come to an agreement outside the court, but should I take the way through court I would have a lot more pull because I had caught Dickie red handed and on camera. She also pointed out that it would take a lot longer if I took the way through court. After some thinking I told her that I wanted this divorce over as fast as possible and that she should write down a proposal and we could try to work it out in a meeting but if he was too stubborn I would go to court. Samantha agreed with this sentiment and we spoke about the assets we both had acquired before and after the marriage, I also told her in no uncertain terms that I didn't want the house I would rather he paid me out. After that I gave her the times in which I would be available for the Mediation and wished her a good night.

The following day I wasn't so lucky and Dickie noticed me before I could slip into the building.

"Honey, please… I didn't mean to."

"You didn't mean to? So what was it that I saw? You and Barnhardt doing Yoga exercises? Don't! I don't want to talk to you. Any of our future communication will handle our lawyers. Goodbye Dickie."

And with that I rushed into the building, hhm the bastard didn't even try, not that I wanted him to, but if he really had been serious he could have made more of an effort. The rest of the day went by and thankfully there was no Dickie when I left the building this time. I made my way straight to the Tasty Pastry and bought birthday cake as well as some bagels for breakfast. After that I made my way back to my flat to finish my assignment for the Photography class. I had filmed my renovation and was now writing a short essay about the changed scenery and what it would mean for future photos. Feeling pretty good about myself after finishing the essay I started my project for the sewing classes. It was a basic summer dress. I didn't want to go overboard, after all my teacher expected my work to be from somebody with practically no foreknowledge. I comforted myself with the thought that I would be able to show off in my future designs.

And so the weeks and months went by and I got what I wanted. Samantha strong armed Dickie out of 75% of his assets and the final divorce papers were signed three months after I caught Dickie with Joyce. I still went to weekly dinners at my parents' but the atmosphere was always a bit strained. Mother was civil to me, but that was it and she also had never apologized for accusing me of being responsible for my failed marriage. On the other side I got closer with my dad. He still didn't say a lot and bore the craziness of this family with a stoic silence but now I would often follow him into the garage, where we would spend some time together. After some time he even introduced me to his card games buddies and they started to show me how to really play poker and black jack. I had never learned it as Miranda, and Stephanie had only remembered the most basic instructions from her time as youth. Those strange father daughter bonding rituals became dear to me and I was starting to look forward to every time he was teaching me something new.  
The money I received from the divorce went into my education as well as shares of Apple and Google. Hell I was part owner of Google; after all it was still a tiny company in its founding year. Both investments would take time to pay off, but they would be so worth it in the long run. In the mean time I put aside more and more money as a safety blanked for the inevitable event of me being laid off at E.E. Martins. That meant I had to cut back on splurging my money on shoes and clothes, I compensated with the fact that thanks to my many accessories I could mix and match them to satisfy my need to be stylish.

My apartment had become fuller since the time I arrived two years ago. I had now more than a few antique commodes and mirrors around the flat with some pretty awesome rugs and a nice little dining room table. All of them I had obtained in garage sales or second hand shops and they gave my apartment a slight retro style. I had another shutter door installed in the dead end part of the kitchen and it held my mannequin and completed and partial dresses, accessories, bags as well as my photo equipment. Throughout the last two years I had acquired a sewing machine and giant amount of different fabrics and materials, hell I even knew how to make shoes myself now, but this wouldn't mean anything if I couldn't sell them. To be honest I was pants at the marketing part, I couldn't sell my dresses to safe my life; that had always been Deborah's task. God but I missed Debbie, it had gotten a bit better throughout the years and with help from Mary Lou but I still missed my best friend from another world.

Deborah Milano had been of African American and Hispanic background, she was a tall, black skinned woman with the most beautiful brown eyes I had ever seen. She was about 5 years older than me and had taken to organize my life for me, so that I could concentrate fully on my designs and nothing else. Now I had to pay my bills and keep up with the insurance on my own and would soon have even more financial problems than before. But even more than her organizational and business talent I missed the woman that had helped me through the death of my mother and a real bad break up. I missed having midnight snacks and eating fast food while we poured over my newest dresses and how we would present them to the public. In the time I had spent here I had always hoped and prayed that she had survived the accident and was still working in the fashion business back in my original timeline.

To keep myself from becoming even more depressed I made myself hot chocolate and cookies in the kitchen. In contrast to Steph I could do some cooking, nothing fancy or complicated but I didn't burn water and homemade chocolate chip cookies were something entirely too delicious to pass up on. I took my comfort food with me to my big black couch and switched on the TV, to laze the rest of the day away. My vacation time had just started yesterday and for the next three weeks I had nothing spectacular planned. With the beginning of this year I had become determined to use the built up vacation time before E.E. Martin was closed down and I would lose it.

I fed Rex on the way out. Yes I had acquired Rex.  
I got him from the hamster lady living two floors above me as a thank you for caring up her groceries. Inside her flat she had at least twenty cages with different animals. Rex had still been a baby when I got him a month before Christmas but was getting bigger each day.

Shortly before 7 o'clock my cell phone rang and somebody that I had never expected to call, at least not for another year was on the other side of the phone.


End file.
